Bashar Assad has shocking battlefield damage assessment of ISIS

In February, President Obama stood in the White House flanked by Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry to address the American people about his request for an authorization for use of military force against ISIS.

Funny thing, I thought that was what we’d been doing since August last year, when President Obama gave another short address about his strategy to combat the “jayvee team” that had somehow become varsity — and causing the blues for Obama.

In both cases, President Obama spent more time preaching to we the people about what he was NOT going to do instead of clearly, from a strategic level, presenting a vision to end the barbaric scourge called the Islamic State — then again, President Obama said ISIS wasn’t “Islamic” — guess they’re Presbyterians?

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During his speech in February, President Obama talked about ISIS’ morale and motivation being low — while his own administration’s counter-terrorism expert was testifying on Capitol Hill that ISIS recruiting was skyrocketing. I guess he didn’t get his talking points — or perhaps he was in the “No Spin Zone.”

Regardless, just as with the Iranian nuclear “deal,” we the people are in search of the truth regarding ISIS. Has the objective of degrading, decimating and destroying been met? I certainly hope we’re not using the same evaluative criteria as with the al-Qaida assessment from 2012.

Well, here’s a very unlikely source that has come out to provide us what we call in the military a BDA — battlefield damage assessment.

As reported by Politico, “Syrian President Bashar Assad says airstrikes on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant targets are not getting rid of the threat posed by the terrorist group.

“Sometimes you could have local benefit, but in general, if you want to talk in terms of ISIS, actually ISIS has expanded since the beginning of the strikes,” Assad said, using another acronym for ISIL (I wrote here as to why the Obama administration uses ISIL), during an interview with Charlie Rose aired on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night.

“Not like some — American — wants to sugar coat the situation as the — to say that it’s getting better. As — ISIS is being defeated and so on. Actually, no, you have more recruits. Some estimates that they have 1,000 recruits every month in Syria. And Iraq — they are expanding in Libya and many other al-Qaida affiliate organizations have announced their allegiance to ISIS. So that’s the situation.”

One word: oops!

And Syrian President Bashar Assad had best beware of speaking out and embarrassing President Obama – or else Obama will deploy campaign operatives to work against him in his next election.

So here we go again with the false narrative emanating from our White House, our president. I can only imagine how many Pinocchios he’d receive if we actually did an enemy order of battle assessment on where ISIS was last year when President Obama sought accolades for having pulled out every single U.S. military troop from Iraq — only to redeploy they back before the year was ended.

I wish I had the ability to calculate this, but sadly I do not — maybe one of you astute readers could, however. Let’s consider how many American air sorties — single aircraft — that have flown since last year August against ISIS. Now, if there is a former Air Force/Navy aircraft logistics type out there, you could help us here. What is the approximate cost per each flight in fuel, flight hours and maintenance, and of course munitions dropped?

I can simply imagine, and consider also the cost of having to use aircraft carriers, because we didn’t have a land-based air operation. Consider this cost and the statement by Bashar Assad. It’s not just funny; it is doggone appalling.

Perhaps there’s a reason why we don’t hear about an estimated body count — then again, that would be difficult since you don’t have GTACs (Ground Tactical Air Control) operating. I know, we see the one or two trucks being blown up – that’s not exactly cost effective — tens of thousands of dollars for what? Three or four ISIS fighters — kinda the same calculus of one deserter for five senior Taliban leaders — shall I remind you that those five cheeky fellas are free to leave Qatar in two months?

And don’t worry, the leader of Hamas will still be residing in Doha, Qatar, where we have Al Uideed Airbase — yes, the irony.

Sure, I know the liberal progressive response is that Obama is brilliant. He is keeping us from getting engaged in the Middle East and forcing the Arab nations to take action. That is awesome, but they’ve been forced to do so because we abandoned the region — all to the dismay and concern of our best ally, Israel and a dedicated fighter against Islamic terrorism, Egypt. But to the delight of the number one state sponsor of Islamic terrorism, Iran, and the growing global Islamic jihadist movement — led by ISIS.

“Assad said that ISIL and Saudi Arabia share the same ideology and the same background, calling the Saudi kingdom a “marriage between the Wahhabi and the political system for 200 years now,” referring to the fundamentalist form of Islam embraced by Saudi Arabia.”

I contend we should always keep the Saudis at arms length because they have placated Wahhabism and allowed it to thrive with their funding. They now realize their ugly little Sunni Frankenstein’s monster, ISIS, is out of control and I’m quite sure they would leverage support to ISIS in order to thwart the advances of their common enemy, Iran.

If there are any stable countries that would join with America in combating this, it is Egypt, UAE, and Jordan. I’m just feeling that warm towards the Saudis and the Kuwaitis.

And here we are sitting at the table with Iran, succumbing to their acquisition of nuclear capability. So what is the strategy? It’s surely not to give them jobs and opportunities.

First, bring about the collapse of the reign of the ayatollahs in Iran and their support to Islamic terrorism. And concurrently strike the Islamic jihadists forces that stretch from Boko Haram to Abu Sayyaff in the Philippines. This is about developing a strike-oriented lethal and maneuverable force that can deny the enemy an ability to establish sanctuary and reposition. This is not about an exercise in nation-building, but simply finding, degrading, decimating and eventually destroying the enemy.

When kids realize joining up with ISIS or another Islamic terrorist organization isn’t fun and they could die — then they won’t join. And maybe we can have someone send them a memo that there REALLY aren’t any 72 virgins.

Meet Allen West

Allen West was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia in the same neighborhood where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once preached. He is the third of four generations of military servicemen in his family.

During his 22 year career in the United States Army, Lieutenant Colonel West served in several combat zones: in Operation Desert Storm, in Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he was a Battalion Commander in the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, and later in Afghanistan.